1. Field of the Invention
The invention is a horizontal disk shaped bicycle light with a plurality of illuminating elements preferably of superluminescent Light Emitting Diodes arrayed around its circumference, through a range of about 330 degrees, which elements are selectively illuminated at slow, medium and fast (or continuously xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d) rates and also selectively illuminated in an all around or a side and rear only pattern.
2. Description of Related Art
Bicycle tail lights are well known, however these are generally formed in either lozenge shapes or occasionally disk shapes with the faces of the disks arranged vertically. Examples of the former are LED illuminated tail lights of U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,188 issued to Choi on May 17, 1994 and filed Oct. 11, 1989. An example of the latter is U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,879 issued to Kelley on Apr. 6, 1982.
Examples of various flashing light controls include the teachings of Choi, referred to above, which shows the flashing of Superluminescent LEDs (SLD) at frequencies higher than or between the range of 3-12 Hz and at a duty cycle of about 10-60%. U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,258 issued to Morse on Jun. 11, 1985 flashes LEDs powered by a battery with a circuit based on an oscillator using xe2x80x9cconventional type 556 dual timer chipsxe2x80x9d and selecting values for resistors and capacitors for various oscillators so that the output xe2x80x9cis on the order of 3 Hzxe2x80x9d but may range from xe2x80x9cslightly less than 1 Hzxe2x80x9d to xe2x80x9cnot greater than 5 Hz.xe2x80x9d U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,166 issued to Shapiro illuminates incandescent lights using an oscillator to provide consistent illumination over the life of a progressively discharging battery. U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,725 to Teeter issued May 23, 1989 and flashes a battery powered LED at about 1 to 2 Hz at a duty cycle of about 20 and to conserve power. Kelley, referred to above, also flashes a light, but uses a capacitor and resistor circuit. These materials are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein and are typical of design choices available as to frequency and duty cycle which may be made by the person of ordinary skill.
The invention is a disk shaped bicycle light using a plurality of outwardly facing, circumferentially spaced conical lenses each having a light emitting diode (LED) at the apex of the cone. Two conical lenses are generally sideward, but slightly forward facing, while three are generally rearwardly facing, specifically, rear facing element, left and right rear elements and left and right forward lenses, to provide generally all-around visibility when all five are energized, and to limit visibility to the side and rear when the rearwardly facing LEDs are illuminated.